The Loss Of Innocence In The Giver And The Flowers By Lois Lowry

Innocence is usually associated with youth and ignorance. The loss of one 's innocence is associated with the evils of the world. In the Giver by Lois Lowry, Jonas gradually loses his innocence as the Giver exposes him to many painful situations while in The Flowers by Alice Walker, Myop instantly loses her innocence as she sees something very terrifying and disgusting. Although others may not agree, The Giver and The Flowers similarly develop the theme of “Loss of Innocence” by showing how Jonas and Myop get exposed to painful and mature truths.
In The Giver by Lois Lowry, the Giver shows Jonas many painful memories, thus, exposing him to many dark truths. In the text, it states, “The Giver looked away, as if he could not bear to see what he had done to Jonas. ‘Forgive me,’ he said.” (Lowry 15) This quote shows that the Giver understands how the memory of war and death devastated Jonas. His guilt-ridden reaction to Jonas helps the reader understand that Jonas is slowly starting to understand true cruelty that he couldn’t even imagine in the past. In the story, the author states, “Jonas did not want to go back. He didn 't want the memories, didn 't want the honor, didn 't want the wisdom, didn 't want the pain. He wanted his childhood again, his scraped knees and ball games.”This quote demonstrates that Jonas understands that he is losing his innocence because of the memories he receives, especially the painful ones. Jonas himself admits that he doesn’t like being exposed